Martina Topley Bird, one-time featured vocalist for Tricky, last released an album in 2003, the understated Mercury Prize nominee Quixotic, which seemed to want to pick up where Massive Attack left off. It was mostly melody-free and plodding, but also adventurous, sexy, and different. Five years later, and with production assistance from Danger Mouse, Topley Bird tries her hand at groovy songs built on tinny keyboards, dirty guitars, and organ.
Songs that bring to mind the 1960s referencing of Amy Winehouse and Duffy might please some listeners. Like "Baby Blue", for example, which contributes a glittering piano to Topley Bird's feathery vocals. In general, though, her voice isn't strong enough to carry Wino's genre, let alone the song. Like so many of her efforts, this song is too quiet-- the voice muffled by heavy drums, synth beats, and a swathe of effects pedals. Similarly, "Poison" and "Valentine" also bend to an apparent craving for all-female trios of a bygone era without much success.
"Shangri La", along with opener "Phoenix", may be the standout here. The mix of violins, organ, and bass is too chaotic, but it's intriguing once the vocals arrive just over a minute in. The chorus-verse format organizes everything into a clean, moving, enjoyable force. The sound of the words, if not their meaning, creates the momentum here: "When I reach town/ Baby I'm a touchdown/ I see us in the way we are/ And I'm running for a train/ And I'm coming home again/ And then maybe I can slowdown."
There is a lot of vertiginous rabbit-hole exploration on The Blue God, and while it might be unfair to suggest this kind of music doesn't fit into the big picture of 2008, well, it really doesn't. There is proof in nearly every genre that listeners just want to dance; the requirement leaves room for every kind of emotion, as long as it's slotted into a tempo of 120 or above. Topley Bird attempts to get things moving multiple times on the album, but the overall effect is one of balladic daydreaming. At those times, her creations are overly delicate, her message lost in compositions that are alternately frothy and sludgy. The Orbison-like "Valentine" is pretty, aerated with harmonies and slow guitar strums. But it's still too sleepy-- not just in tempo, but in its ability to create complexities and tiny revolutions from a repeating melody and a diverse set of instruments.
